Although this might not have been for a book we've worked on together, I am still mightily proud of her achievement, and hope she doesn't waste too much time in sending me her new book! Congratulations Samantha Bacchus! Please watch out for this brilliant crime writer of the future!

So, not one but two award-nominated authors I have the pleasure of knowing and working with! Lucky me! Congratulations, beautiful ladies, you are an inspiration!

It's time! The agent round is here, and I for one and SMAWESOMELY excited.

#TeamSugarRush are ready: pitches are prepared, samples are polished. We've got this in the bag...

Now is the time to get yourself over to my beautiful friend Louise Gornall's blog and check the WINNING entries out, watch the agent requests roll in, and share in the excitement. But please please refrain from commenting unless you are an agent. We care about our hearts and they are already going to take a major battering today anyway.

And remember, if you are an agent but didn't sign up for the contest, you can still pop along and show some love. If you'd like more information on NestPitch or would like to know how you can request pages, please click here.

If you aren't involved in NestPitch then you can still join in some of the agent round fun and possibly win a $20 Amazon voucher. No, no joke! Click here.

It's been a privilege to be a part of NestPitch 2015. I've read some amazing new books, made a bunch of new BFFs, and learnt so much along the way. So thank you to everyone who welcomed me into the NestPitch family.

But most importantly, congratulations to everyone who submitted their work to the mentors and slushies. Without you, it wouldn't exist. The quality of writing was astonishing and I've no doubt I'll be seeing a lot of these books on my shelf in the future.

GOOD LUCK TO ALL THE AUTHORS WHO MADE IT THIS FAR! MAY THE AGENT MAGNETIC FORCE BE WITH YOU TODAY.

It’s been just one week since Winell Road was released into the wild, and what a week it’s been. I’ve tweeted and Facebooked about it as much as time would allow, I’ve received a warming flow of wonderful words congratulating me, I’ve arranged several guest posts, interviews and reviews to go live over the coming months, and to top it all off, I’ve already received five 4 and 5 star ratings on Goodreads. What a way to round off week one! If it’s downhill from here on, so be it. I hope not, but if that’s to be the case, I will always remember this week – my first being a published author.

And the best thing, I get to do this all again when the paperback comes out later in the year! Yippee! I have so many people to thank, but in particular I’d like to send out an enormous hug to E.L. Wicker for supporting me every step of the way and sharing in my excitement. Also Christina Banach and Sarah Davis for cheering me on behind the scenes – you guys don’t know how much your words mean to me. And special thanks to everyone else who has shown me congratulation-love! I have heaps of other things planned to help get Winell Road out there into the hands of as many children (and adults) as I can. I will eventually be posting reviews by children on my author website, which is definitely still under construction. But, if you’d like to help by reading and reviewing, please let me know. On a completely different and even more important note, I’ve donated a full manuscript edit to help raise much needed money for Nepal. Now I just hope it will get lots of juicy bids. Honestly, this package is worth lots of money, so whatever you can spare will, not only go a long way in assisting with the crisis, but means you will be grabbing yourself a bargain. Just go here and bid! I’ve already been over to ebay, splashing the cash on as many items as I can, please please do the same. I’ve had plenty of other exciting things going on this week, things I really hope work out the way I’d like them to – but more on that another day!

I'm delighted to be taking part in a fantastic blog hop today organised by the superbly talented Sharon Bayliss. When I read the brief, I knew there would be only one thing I could write about when putting the words 'Writer' and 'Mama' together. And it surrounds one particular emotion I believe is essential for everyone, like me, to overcome and be able to truly allow writing into their lives. So here we go...

I love my kids, my family, of course, and they pretty much always come first.

Yes! You heard me correctly, people! I said ‘pretty much’! PRETTY MUCH always come first. Meaning not all the time. (I'm driving the point home, not patronising.)

There are no porky pies coming from me today, I plan to knock you all bandy with my honesty. Because no, I’m not going to lie and say they ALWAYS come first, because sometimes they don’t. I don’t ALWAYS listen intently to my son telling me about his new Pokemon card for the 100th time that day, or ALWAYS immediately drop what I’m doing to splatter-proof my kitchen and get the paints out when my youngest son asks for them, or ALWAYS leap off the chair during Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals to be goalkeeper in the doorway and have balls pelted at me for an hour, or ALWAYS have my husband’s favourite meal pre-planned, cooked and served every day whilst I wear sexy lingerie (actually I don’t think that one’s ever happened). You see, I also love my job and my writing, and often I want and need to disappear into my own world, to stop serving everyone, to not be positive and reassuring all the time, to be more than just a pair of ears. I want to do the things that make me excited, that provide my buzz, and feed my passion. But, as you’ll know if you have both a hobby and a family, balancing self-indulgence time with your posse time means dealing with THAT emotion. The king of all feelings. The one that knocks the others out the water. Even the big players like grief, like elation, like desire. Yes, GUILT. Along with its close relations: failure and regret. And I’ve found there’s no escaping this evil since becoming a parent. It's always there, peeping round the corner, watching and listening to every decision I make, hiding in my kids' expressions. Then laughing and mocking me when I think I’m doing OK. A cruel, cold blooded emotion that forces me to tears, pushes me in the corner, keeps me up at night.

But then comes the dilemma. I’ve learnt that if I don’t give myself the odd hour of me-time, be it as little as once a week, I will eventually crumble. And this means my family will, too, because I know it’s me who holds them together. I am the glue. I don’t want my gang to crack and break, and I don’t want myself to dry up, lose my stickiness and start peeling off (I’m still the glue here in case you’re not following). I need my job, I need words. They’re like water to me. I have to stay hydrated for the sake of my family.So sometimes, I find the only way to fit both in on a daily or weekly basis is to face the guilt demon head on. Smash it straight in the face and deal with it.

So I say no, sorry kids, sorry husband, sorry puppy. And the TV goes on. A DVD gets slotted in. The X-box springs to life. The DS goes on charge. The take-away menus come out. Yes! Come and get me, guilt, because I'm ready to take you down with one knockout punch. I need writing to stay sane. That’s it. Be it, 4pm on a Wednesday afternoon, or 10am on a Sunday morning, writing is in the diary, on the calendar and in our lives. You'd better get used to it!

I hope you've enjoyed my blog, and please leave a comment if you wish. If you're ready to move straight on, check out the list of other participants below! Thank you so much for stopping by. Enjoy.